


Lone Ladybugs and Stray Chats

by WriterRach



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Anti-hero AU, Grief, Other, Probable angst, warning: character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-06-12 11:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15339177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterRach/pseuds/WriterRach
Summary: After the death of the Daughter of Paris, Ladybug and Chat Noir are no longer reverred as the heroes they once were. With dynamics changing in wake of this, what will happen to the miraculous heroes?





	1. Chapter 1

 

Marinette looked at herself in the mirror, dark circles under her eyes. She had barely slept since the night of the… incident. Shaking her head, she clipped her earrings in, Tikki materialising in the air beside her, a frown pulling her elegant features.

“Marinette, I know you don’t want to hear it-”

“You’re right, I don’t; so, can we not talk about it?” she sighed, packing her school bag and pulling on her black jacket.

“It’s been two months and you’ve been keeping them off longer each night,” Tikki sighed, floating around and pointing at her miraculous. “You’re Ladybug, the lady of hope. You can’t disappear and hide from your responsibilities,” the Kwami explained.

“Can we not do this right now, I have to get to class,” Marinette said sharply. It wasn’t her responsibilities she was hiding from, in fact, it was almost as if Papillon himself was also mourning the loss of the daughter of Paris.

That’s what they were calling her, even though Chloe Bourgeois had been nothing but a bully, she was being memorialised as a martyr. The truth was, Marinette knew it was partly her fault, but her Kwami was too much of a conscience for her to be around for long periods of time – so she had taken to taking off her earrings while she slept. It didn’t help the nightmares, but without Tikki hovering over her, blue eyes wide with concern, Marinette was able to feel a little less guilty. Besides, _it wasn’t her fault_. Not really.

Marinette gave a small wave to her parents in the bakery before the short walk to her school. It had only been two years since she was gifted with the powers of the miraculous and so much had happened in such a short time. Alya waved the her as she approached the steps and Marinette put on her usual smile.

“You look exhausted girl; did you sleep at all?”

“Not really,” she gave a weak smile.

“You really need to stop designing so much. You can’t keep burning the candle at both ends like this,” Alya frowned.

“Hey guys,” Nino called as he approached. Marinette looked up hopefully but tried not to let her disappointment be too obvious when she saw he was alone.

“Still no Adrien?” Alya asked and Nino shook his head.

“I guess we can’t be too mad at him, I mean, he was closer to her than we were,” Nino shrugged, readjusting his cap. The sunshine felt like it was mocking them as they stood at the gates of the school. The bell rang a moment later and with a heavy sigh, Marinette put her smile back on and followed her friends into class.

~

“You can’t keep doing this, kid,” Plagg shook his head as he floated just above the bed, watching as Adrien pushed his breakfast around with a fork.

“I can do this as long as I want. It was my fault,” Adrien sighed, moving the breakfast tray to the floor and rolling over, pulling the covers back up over his head.

“Actually, it’s Ladybug’s fault, technically,” Plagg sighed, floating up and pushing his head through a gap in the covers. “And that’s what’s making you feel worse, I get it. I never would have thought Ladybug, of all people, could do _that_ ,” the Kwami said closing his eyes and looking away before opening one to see if it piqued his chosen’s interest.

“Plagg, ever since we fought Dark Owl, you’ve been dropping dumb hints like that to get me to do what you want. It’s not going to work, she’s the…” Adrien’s eyes widened for a moment as he caught himself. “She was my partner, and she made a bad choice. I should have picked up the slack where she didn’t… _couldn’t_ ,” he corrected himself.

He knew she had been way too harsh on Chloe and it was probably the reason why she had isolated herself before… the accident. Adrien couldn’t bring himself to think of it as anything else. If it had been intentional… he couldn’t deal with that. Thankfully, his Kwami had been surprisingly supportive in the past two months, curling up in his hair while he slept to keep him comforted, encouraging him to eat and get out of bed – some days that was all he truly needed and he was, for the first time in a long time, grateful that Plagg was Plagg.

Fancy words weren’t what he needed right now, and Plagg knew that – being the bearer of infinite bad luck and destruction made him somewhat of an expert in this area, Adrien guessed. Maybe it was time he got out of bed, even if he had abandoned school and his friends.

He waited until Nathalie came to retrieve his tray, ignoring her frown and staying curled up under the covers until after she left before getting up and pulling on some plain jeans and a black shirt.

“Are we going out?” Plagg asked confused as he watched the boy. “Nathalie didn’t say you had anywhere to be.”

“Exactly,” Adrien managed a small smile. “We’re going out for a bit. C’mon Plagg, Transform me!”

~

Marinette sat staring out the window of her physics class. She knew enough to pass with a decent grade, but without the blond boy there, she found it hard to take any extra interest in the room around her. She froze when she saw a shadow move across the rooftops. Holding her breath, she waited and saw the shadow jump from a rooftop nearby and continue running, towards the tower.

“Madame Mendeliev, may I be excused?” Marinette jumped to her feet, barely waiting for an answer before she walked briskly out of the room and into the girl’s locker room.

“Marinette, what are you doing?” Tikki asked, poking her head out of the girl’s purse.

“I saw him, Tikki. No matter what has happened… I need to see him, properly,” Marinette said carefully, her heart racing. “Tikki, Transform me!”

She felt the power wash over her and gently pushed the window open before artfully pitching her yo-yo out and swinging into the streets of Paris. The wind blowing against her face felt refreshing and she felt something settle within her, a feeling she had nearly forgotten as she gracefully leapt and bounded from rooftop to rooftop, swinging from chimneys over larger gaps, taking the familiar route to Paris’ main attraction.

She saw him sitting on the railing at the very top and swung herself up behind him, feet landing with a slight thud. Suddenly, this didn’t seem like such a great idea, Marinette realised as she felt her stomach drop to the floor when he didn’t turn to greet her.

“Ladybug,” he said quietly after a moment of silence. “What are you doing here?” his voice was hoarse, like he hadn’t been using it much. Was he isolating himself too?

“I, er, well, I saw you and I just… I just transformed and followed you without thinking,” she said slowly, carefully stepping towards him. His back was still to her and he didn’t move.

“You left class?” he asked, she could hear the surprise in her voice. “Just like that? That’s unlike you.”

The topic of their identities had come up more than a few times since their Kwamis had seen the truth. They had slowly started to share information with each other, about their ages – they were both now sixteen – and their school – both attended Collège Françoise Dupont. They had also talked about their Kwamis and their weird habits and Marinette had since started keeping a mini wheel of cheese in her bag when they went out on patrols just in case.

“Well, things changed. I think we can agree I haven’t been like myself since…” Marinette let her voice die. She didn’t need to bring it up – Chat Noir had taken Chloe’s death harder than she had, and she couldn’t, she wouldn’t, pretend it hadn’t.

“Yeah well, guess we can add that to the bag of crazy, can’t we,” the boy said bitterly and Marinette swallowed hard.

 “Chat… Look, it wasn’t… I didn’t mean…”

“Of course you didn’t,” Chat sighed. “And that’s what makes it worse,” he finally turned to face her and he looked her up and down for a moment. “Nice new look,” he scoffed.

“What?” she looked down and saw her costume had changed. Her arms and legs were still red with black polka dots but her torso was now clad in black with red spots, reminiscent of Chloe’s Anti-bug costume. She knew he could see the anger and fear in her eyes as she made the same connection. Tikki was going to get an earful later.

~

 “Don’t get mad at your Kwami for that,” Adrien said quickly. “Our transformations are based on our psyche. Guess your guilt is evident,” he added, and then wished he hadn’t.

“You don’t know anything, Chaton,” she sighed.

“Don’t go calling me that, not after what happened. You can’t just pretend this didn’t happen! This isn’t like the times you stood me up or rejcted me, it wasn’t someone’s feeling that got hurt – someone _died_ , Ladybug,” the words slid off his tongue before he could stop them and he could see her shield go up before they could pierce her.

“You don’t think I know that? I didn’t want this to happen!” she cried and Adrien supressed his eye roll. “She caused so many akumas, Chat. She needed to be told when enough was enough and she didn’t have any friends to tell it to her face, so I did,” the girl snapped at him, arms across her chest.

Adrien tried not to let the specifics of her words get to him. Yes, Chloe didn’t really have friends and yes, she could be mean and vindictive, but she had been _trying_.

“She was upset because we didn’t protect her! You don’t think after waking up from a coma, you’d be pissed to?” Adrien almost shouted back.

“She had no right! We saved her life for the _thousandth_ time, once again, and she had the nerve to get mad at me because my miraculous didn’t fix her?”

“No, that’s not-” Adrien began but she kept going.

“So I told her off. I told her if she was just a nicer person, if she wasn’t so cruel to everyone she met, she would be better off,” Ladybug’s voice wavered as they both knew she was paraphrasing the truth. “And what did she do? She caused another akuma a few weeks later.”

“She had been isolating herself,” Adrien snapped. “She had been hiding away from everyone, afraid she couldn’t be nice enough, because her hero, her idol, told her she was a horrible human being. Why do you think she was so upset when we fought the last akuma?”

“She was-”

“She was scared, Ladybug. She was scared and she was suffering, because she didn’t think she was good enough, because her idol had said she wasn’t a good person.” Ladybug was looking at him now, mouth wide. Clearly, she hadn’t known.

If she had been to the funeral, she would have known. Adrien sighed, he could feel his tear ducts trying to leak, but he had dried them all up two weeks ago at the funeral. He hadn’t cried so much since his mother’s disappearance.

“It wasn’t an accident that she was up there...” Ladybug’s words were quiet, denial lacing them even though she knew the truth.

“Of course it wasn’t an accident. She believed she was a bad person, incapable of change. I wonder who put that idea in her head.” Adrien couldn’t stop the words coming now. He knew he would regret them later, that he was probably shattering whatever future they had together.

“It’s not my fault!” she cried, arms wrapped around her torso, eyes threatening to overspill with tears. Adrien couldn’t bring himself to argue with her. Partly because he knew he couldn’t comfort her without lying, and partly because he knew he needed her to know the truth.

“You should get back, before they figure out you left as Ladybug,” Adrien sighed, taking his staff from his back. “I’ll see you around,” he said but he wasn’t sure if he meant it as he extended his staff and leapt from the tower.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two heroes contemplate what happened

 

Marinette didn’t return to school that day, instead she sat atop the tower until the day grew dark, and eventually realised she had to go somewhere. The girl threw her yoyo out and swung with it, not sure where she was going until she landed on the roof of Le Grand Paris. She felt her transformation slide away as she took in the rooftop pool. No one was around, in fact everything around the hotel was quiet, like people had been keeping this as an official place of mourning.

Tikki flittered out of Marinette’s handbag and pressed the button for the elevator, trying to guide the girl where she needed to go, but Marinette already knew, even if she wasn’t sure she was ready. When it arrived, she stepped inside and let her Kwami press the button of the floor they needed to go to.

Marinette had never really given much thought as to why Chloé had disappeared for a few weeks after she had told her off. She had thought at the time, that it was just Chloé being Chloé – taking advantage of the kindness others extended to her while she recovered.

She stepped out of the elevator to find the empty hallway. She couldn’t help but remember the number of times she and Chat Noir had been brought here to protect her from yet another akuma. Marinette approached the door, which was new, she realised, seeing that the door frame was splintered in some places but otherwise intact; yet another thing her miraculous hadn’t been able to fix.

There was a large black ribbon across the door to prevent people from entering, but it was easily ignored as Marinette slipped under and into the room.

The bedroom was perfect as it had always been, nothing out of place, as if she really was just away at school. On the centre of the bed was a small yellow teddy bear that Marinette felt she had seen before but couldn’t be sure.

“It looks like nothing ever happened,” she said quietly and her kwami flew towards her.

“I can show you,” Tikki explained, her voice sombre. “I mean, I’m not supposed to _ever_ show a holder this but… If it would help you…”

“You could show me? Like, time travel?”

“Not really. It’s more of a, memory bank,” the kwami waved her little arms as she spoke. “I can remember what the power restores, at least, for the duration I’m with the wearer.”

“You can…” Marinette swallowed hard as she realised what Tikki was saying. She would be able to see what had happened, where the akuma had started.

“You won’t be able to see everything that happened, it doesn’t work like that. But I can show you what happened in here, the way it was before our magic fixed it.” Tikki waited and after a moment Marinette nodded, unsure of what to expect.

“Transform me,” she whispered and she felt the power flood through her like always, only when she opened her eyes, the room wasn’t spotless, it was utterly destroyed.

Shards of ice speared the walls and bed, a large chunk of broken ice in the corner where Chat Noir had pulled Chloé from as Ladybug had lured the akuma outside. Thinking back, she couldn’t help but remember that Chloé had been in her pyjamas and looking rather dishevelled; something she had just brushed off at the time and put down to interrupting her evening routine. But she hadn’t complained, in fact Marinette barely remember seeing her outside of the room.

So how did she get to the rooftop?

Shaking herself a little, Marinette looked around some more, the bedcovers were crumpled and looked like they hadn’t been vacated in days. Peeking out from under the bed was full tray of food that had been abandoned, along with remnants of other food on trays that had been hidden from view.

The large closet in the corner had a large scorch mark around a sharp spear of ice through the centre and inside Marinette could see that clothes had been burned and marked by the small blaze as well.

The akuma had been able to channel both fire and ice, demanding that Chloe own up to her ‘hot and cold’ attitude. It hadn’t been an easy akuma to fight, her lucky charm only confusing her as she and her partner had battled both the powerful elements.

Marinette continued her evaluation, seeing various scorch marks and shattered remnant of ice-spears before coming to the door. The door had been burnt and charred with a flame and the handles had melted shut, but there were no ice shards or spear marks around the frame that matched the scratches she saw.

She considered dropping her transformation when she heard the door handle twist. The vision slid away and she was back in the spotless room, the door thankfully unopened, but she could practically feel someone on the other side.

Marinette quickly sprinted out to the balcony, carefully shutting the doors so they didn’t make a sound and threw her yoyo, swinging out back into the city.

~

Adrien slid down into an alley and let his transformation drop. He had just wanted to be on his own, but of course Ladybug had to come check on him.

It wasn’t that he hated her, it was just that he was so sick of people checking up on him. _Of course,_ he wasn’t doing okay - his childhood friend was gone. No matter how much she had changed as she had grown, she was still the same girl who had made him laugh, who had been his only friend for so long.

Even his father had retreated from his work for a while, still as distant as ever, but at least at home. Papillon had also been so kind as to take a break from akumas lately as well. Maybe he, like them, had always assumed the magic of a miraculous could fix all, and the death of a citizen had changed his outlook.

Adrien slumped against a wall, shaking his head at how ridiculous the notion was. Papillon wouldn’t suddenly stop wanting their miraculous because someone died, he had his reasons for wanting them, whatever they were. Master Fu seemed to think Papillon wanted the miraculous to fulfil a wish, though Adrien couldn’t imagine what the villain would wish for.

He looked out the alley, recognising the street. He was near the Guardian’s shop. Maybe he could help clear his head and find some clarity. He did specialise in weird medicines and Chinese practices after all.

Adrien pulled the hood of his jacket up over his head and zipped it almost all the way up. Plagg flew in, nesting himself at Adrien’s neck, before the boy stepped out of the alley, head down so he wouldn’t be recognised.

It wasn’t long before he got to the shop, a charm with four bells twinkling as he entered.

“Ah, Adrien. I wondered if I would be seeing you soon,” the man gave a small nod, no smile on his face. Wayzz, the turtle kwami floated behind him, giving a small wave before zipping out the back. “Come, we’ll have tea.”

Adrien nodded, pulling his hood off as he followed. Plagg stayed nuzzled in the crook of his neck but Adrien couldn’t tell if it was because he was lazy or had fallen asleep.

“Plagg seems to have bonded with you some more over the recent events,” the man nodded at the black kwami as he sat on a cushion on the floor, he gestured for Adrien to take his place on a pillow on the opposite side of the small table.

“Well, he has certainly been less crabby,” Adrien said quietly, lifting a finger to pat his kwami’s head.

“I can hear you, you know,” Plagg grumbled, but he stayed put.

“The black cat miraculous can bring with it a large amount of bad luck,” Master Fu explained as he poured some tea from the tea set on the table. Wayzz came floating back in, passing a cube of cheese to the black kwami. Plagg muttered a reluctant thank you as he took it before grumbling about it not being as good as camembert but would have to do.

“Losing someone close to you is about as bad as bad luck can get,” Adrien sighed as he turned back the man. “I just… I don’t understand why,” he added quietly as he took the tea with a grateful nod.

“Why the girl died, or why the miraculous didn’t fix it?”

“Both, I guess? And why did Ladybug have to be so harsh on her? I mean, I understand that she was annoying, and she caused so many akumas; but she _was_ changing, she _was_ trying. She locked herself away for weeks after Ladybug told her off. She was scared of causing another akuma, she wouldn’t see me, she barely even saw Sabrina,” Adrien shook his head a little as he took a sip of scalding tea. It burned his tongue and lips, but he welcomed the sting; anything was better than the numbness he had been feeling.

“And I understand our miraculous are magic, but they can’t bring back the dead; but I guess none of us thought that the injuries someone sustained during a battle with an akuma couldn’t be healed with the magic. No-one ever got hurt. We were always there to save them.”

Master Fu sat quietly, listening to Adrien as he talked through the thoughts that had been plaguing him. He hadn’t come here for advice, not really, and Master Fu knew that. The hardest part of being a miraculous holder was being alone. No one could know the truth about their identities and therefore the road they took was a lonely one that heroes so often had to take.

“I guess I just don’t understand why she was up there. She had been locked in her room, I made sure she would be safe and away from the battle. The only way up for her would have been the elevator, or the fire escape. I just don’t understand why she would do that… you don’t think… that she wanted to… that it was…” he swallowed hard.

“Adrien, I think as hard as the truth is, you already know what happened. You were there, you saw the akuma blast hit the ground,” Master Fu said, voice soft but words hard.

“I know, but I just-” He was cut off a siren began to sound through the streets.

“Looks like Papillon’s moment of silence is over,” Plagg muttered cynically and Adrien couldn’t help but agree.

“Thanks for the tea, I guess,” Adrien sighed as he stood. As he made his way to the door he hesitated for a moment, wanting to ask about Ladybug. Had she been by? Was her costume change really a sign of guilt or something more serious?

He shook his head. He couldn’t waste time. If there was another akuma, there could be another death, and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone. He hurriedly stepped out of the shop and followed the swarming crowd until he could escape down an alley.

“Plagg, transform me!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof  
> i don't know.
> 
> I've started working a lot for sorry about the slow updates.  
> I have a bit planned for this fic, but I'm not sure how far I'll go.
> 
> thanks for the support!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An akuma appears

Marinette had just made her way up into her room when the akuma alarm sounded through the city. Her parents had been worried when her teachers had called as said she had vanished from the school, and someone from her class had dropped off her books when she hadn’t returned to collect them.

She had made up some excuse about not being able to focus and needing time for herself, which her parents had understood but also firmly reminded her that she couldn’t skip out on school like that.

Tikki quickly ate through a cookie in two bites before Marinette called to transform and leapt out of her balcony. She threw her yoyo and swung through the city, hoping her suit wasn’t nearly as obvious as Chat had made it out to be. She landed on a rooftop above the park where the akuma was wailing, soundwaves echoing in all directions causing serious damage with the vibrations.

Marinette looked around, it seemed most of the townspeople had evacuated as required, but there were still a few people caught in the immediate radius of the sound, stuck to the ground covering their ears.

“Hey!” she cried as she got closer, waving her arms to get the akuma’s attention. “Leave them alone!”

The akuma turned to her, their skin a deep purple colour that seemed to ripple and shift as they moved, their outfit appearing grey, but close up the colour and pattern of tv static.

“I will not be silenced! For too long I have been ignored!” The akuma cupped their large hands together and let out a shriek, waves of sound travelling towards Ladybug. She jumped to another roof, catching herself with a roll before she was up on her feet once again.

“Talk about white noise,” a new voice sighed. Marinette saw her partner beside her, his staff extended, ready to fight.

“Chat, look, I-”

“Ladybug we really don’t have time for you to be professing your feelings for me,” he dismissed; his words were as flirtatious as always but his tone was flat and his eyes were empty of the same emotion. She couldn’t help but frown.

“Chat, really, I think we need to-”

“How dare you ignore me!” the akuma cried, sending another blast of sound energy towards them. They split up, Ladybug darting to the left and Chat Noir to the right. He began talking loudly, distracting the akuma so she could figure out where the butterfly was hiding.

Marinette couldn’t help but watch her partner, her heart feeling heavy as he dutifully distracted the akumatised person, leading them away from Ladybug. She could tell his heart wasn’t really in it. He really had taken Chloé’s death hard.

She shook herself before dropping to the ground and helping the few people move aside, out of the danger zone. Those who had been caught in the blast already hadn't moved, instead keeping their gaze on the akuma.

“Ladybug, please help her. She just wanted to make a difference. She was tried of people pushing her away and ignoring her,” a person said to her as she lead them towards the nearest alley so they could escape.

“What happened? Where is the akuma?”

“I… I don’t know, I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching when it happened; I was busy trying to get the business man to apologise to her! He tore her sign in half and kicked over our collection bucket. When she tried to stop him he just slapped the bandana from her and spat at the ground. We just wanted to raise money for charity,” the person sobbed.

“It’s okay. You’ve been more helpful than you think, thank you. Now please get somewhere safe,” Marinette instructed, turning back and looking up at the akuma as they sent another wave of sonic sound towards Chat Noir.

She tried to concentrate but her eyes couldn’t focus on specific elements of the akuma’s strange outfit. She took a deep breath and threw her yoyo into the air.

“Lucky Charm!”

~

“Chat!” He heard his partner call and Adrien nimbly slipped away from the next wave of sound that came at him. He darted towards the white figure, hit them in the head with his staff and landed beside Ladybug who held a comically large roll of black and red spotted tape.

She held out her hand and dropped two small rolled buds of tape into his hand, gesturing to her ears and he obeyed, though how he would hear her plan he wasn’t sure.

Adrien couldn’t help but wonder if she even had a plan. It was their first akuma attack in months and she clearly hadn’t been dealing with what had happened… The changes to her suit… had she changed as well? Were things going to change?

Ladybug pulled him aside and into a dark alley as the akuma began calling for them. Ladybug gestured to the tape, then to her mouth before pointing at the figure.

Was that really all they had to work with?

“And the item?” he mouthed. Ladybug looked away and he couldn’t stop the frown pulling his own features. The akuma zipped past them, screeching for them to return and he wasn’t sure why but Adrien’s eyes were caught on the bandana tied around their wrist that was just a little different than the rest of their outfit.

He hurriedly gestured to Ladybug who looked at him confused. He shook his head with a sigh. She really wasn’t ready to be back in this, he thought to himself. He took the tape from his partner and leapt out.

“Hey! I’ve got a sound idea for ya!” The akuma turned but he was already on his feet. As the Akuma leaned back to inhale for their scream, he leapt, tearing a large strip of tape and placing it against the akuma’s lips. He then wrapped it around their face, covering the mouth before tearing it and wrapping it around their wrists, binding them together.

With a kick to their stomach, he tore the bandana from the akuma’s wrist and threw it to his partner who was standing just out of where they had been hiding, a look of shock on her face.

“Well? Aren’t you going to save the city, M’lady?” he asked, putting on his smile as he caught a glimpse of their ever-dutiful reporter peeking out from behind a different alley.

“O-of course. Thank you, _Chaton_.” She replied, her voice wavering a little on her pet name for him. He let it slide due to their audience and watched as she tore the bandana in half and used her yoyo compact to catch the dark butterfly the escaped.

She released it after her chant, but instead of the brilliant white butterfly they were accustomed to, a simple cabbage butterfly flew out. Pure, but not the dazzling alternative their were used to.

Adrien saw Ladybug tense, her blue eyes looking a little shiny as she took in what had happened.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” she called and thousands of Ladybugs fixed the destruction. The two heroes spent some time going around the scene, making sure no-one was hurt and consoling the victim. Adrien did his best to keep Alya from Ladybug, but her voice kept rising above the crowd.

“Ladybug! What’s with the new suit? What happened with the akuma? Does this mean Papillon is back? If so why was he taking a break?”

“I’ll handle this,” he muttered to his partner. “You might want to go find the Guardian and get some advice.”

“A-Are you sure?” she asked, eyes still shiny. She was about to cry and her miraculous was beeping with two spots left.

“I hear he has a tea that helps clear the mind,” he added with a half-smile. “Either that or the man’s good at getting you to monologue. Just go, or you’ll reveal yourself to everyone here,” he added, gesturing to the frantic beeping as the second to last spot disappeared.

“I… thank you,” she said, clearly avoiding whatever she wanted to say. She gave a farewell to those around her before taking off.

“Ladybug wait!”

“Alya, please, Ladybug’s going to change back in a moment. She needs to go,” Adrien pleaded but instead the reporter turned to him. He heard Ladybug’s yoyo behind him as she zipped away.

“Well, you’ll do. Where have you two been anyway? It’s been months and suddenly you both are seen running through Paris _and then_ an akuma strikes?”

“Ladybug and I were simply mourning the loss of Chloé Bourgeois, like everyone else in the city. We were grieving. As for Papillion, whatever reasons he has for returning don’t matter because we are here to protect the citizens.”

“But how do you explain all of you resurfacing at once?”

“It’s just coincidence. I’m sure even Papillon was shocked by what happened. I just hope that if these attacks resume again, citizens of Paris will continue to be ever vigilant and kind and keep them and those close to them safe at all costs,” Chat explained, desperately hoping he didn’t sound like he was avoiding.

“Chat Noir,” Alya put down her phone for a moment. “Are things going to get worse again?”

“Alya, I can’t say for certain. Until we catch Papillon we can’t be sure of anything. But you can trust that Ladybug and I are here to keep Paris safe. No matter what.”

Even as he said the words, he knew he didn’t doubt them. No matter what was going to happen between them, they were the heroes of Paris; they couldn’t let the people down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greif can do strange things to people  
> so can fear...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette isn't happy

A week passed and Marinette didn’t see Chat Noir again. She had taken his advice and seen the Guardian after the last akuma attack, but he hadn’t had the answers she was looking for. She had however, stopped taking her earrings off; for which Tikki was relieved.

“You can’t be consumed by Papillon’s power while you wear your miraculous,” the kwami explained.

“I know, I just needed some time,” Marinette sighed, staring at the pencil in her hand and blank sketch book in front of her. It had been a long time sing she had been able to put anything down. “Tikki, Chloé’s death wasn’t my fault, right?” she asked after a moment.

“Of course not, Marinette. She fell,” Tikki replied after an appropriate pause.

“So why am I so messed up over it? I mean she and I never saw eye to eye, she was mean and vindictive and hurt a lot of people,” Marinette listed. “She caused so many akumas and never really showed any remorse.”

“She wasn’t very kind, no…”

“She wasn’t my friend, I should be happy she’s gone; I mean, one less person making others miserable, right?”

“Marinette,” Tikki gasped.

“No-one is saying it, but the world is going to be a nicer place now, right?” she spun in her desk chair to face the kwami floating in the air, her tiny hands over her mouth and eyes wide in shock.

“So why can’t I get this out of my head? Why do I feel so bad about this? She was a bully and she’s gone. Why does this bother me so much, Tikki?” she frowned, resting her hands over her eyes in frustration. “I want to be past this already, I know it sounds insensitive but what else am I supposed to say? I can’t lie and think of her as a martyr or someone who changed the world for the better…”

“Marinette, you need to talk to someone.”

“I can’t. Chat Noir took it all really hard and it’s not like I can talk to Alya, Nino or Adrien about this. Master Fu would probably just tell me to remember that I am the city’s symbol of hope and I shouldn’t think so negatively; but Tikki, I just… I’m tired of this feeling.”

“What about a professional?”

“We are the professionals.”

“I mean a psychologist or grief counsellor,” the kwami shook her head. “The school gave you all the contact information, right?”

“Tikki I can’t just go to grief counselling. I’m a freaking superhero for crying out loud,” Marinette shook her head. “You know what, I think I need some air. I’ll be back later,” she stood, grabbing her jacket and leaving her room, calling to her parents as she left the bakery.

 

“Hey Princess,” a familiar voice called out. She had heard him approach, so used to his presence from their time together, but made a bit of a display in reacting to him.

“Chat Noir? What are you doing here?”

“The Eiffel Tower? It’s kind of my place,” he replied cutting himself off from the rest of his words. “What about you? How’d you get up so high?” he asked, gesturing to the tourist platform nearly ten feet below them.

“I climbed,” Marinette said with a small shrug.

“How’d you pass security?” he asked, a hint of shock in his tone.

“They were busy talking. Apparently, they double as tour guides,” Marinette said, readjusting herself and re-hooking her ankles around a beam.

“Ah,” Chat replied lamely, clipping his staff behind him before sitting beside her, staring out at the city. They were facing her neighbourhood; in the distance she could see the school, Adrien’s house and Le Grand Paris. Suddenly, she wished she was on the opposite side of the tower.

“Hard to believe she’s gone, huh?” he said quietly after a moment.

Marinette let his words float for a moment; her mind immediately wondering who he was talking about before she registered the sad look in his eyes as his gaze was directed to the large hotel.

“I guess,” she replied simply. She wanted to clear her head, not be reminded of her conversation with Tikki.

“How are you doing with it all?” he asked, looking at her out the corner of his eyes.

“M-me?” his tone caught her off guard.

“Well, you hated her, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t hate her,” Marinette replied sharply. “She just… stopped being nice to rest of us and instead treated us like dirt. I didn’t like her, but she didn’t deserve to… she didn’t deserve what happened.”

Chat looked at her properly now, face expectant. He could tell she was holding back something and he was waiting to see if she’d continue. Marinette bit the inside of her cheek gently as she thought on it.

“I guess I just kind of wish everyone would move past it now,” she divulged. “Yes, it was tragic, no-one deserved that. But at the same time, she wasn’t exactly nice to everyone. It’s been over a month and I just want things to begin to settle into a new normal,” she added, crossing her arms on the rail in front of her and pressing her face into them as she finished talking.

“I know what you mean,” Chat sighed sadly after a moment and Marinette looked at him in shock. He was staring out at the city, watching as people went about their lives before explaining himself.

“I, er, knew her… as myself and as a hero and I knew she wasn’t the nicest person, but I also knew a side of her that not many others did, and I could see the way she was changing. She really wanted to be a better person, y’know? Like she was trying, but then the tragedy happened and now… I want to be able to keep my memories of her with me and just move forward with my life.”

“I want to go back to my routines and keep working with Ladybug to make Paris a safer place; I want to live a life she would have…well, approved of,” he added with a glum laugh.

Marinette stared at him, unsure what to say. They both knew different and also similar sides of Chloé and yet here they were, both wanting to move forward from this strange obligation that bound them.

Marinette reached out and wrapped her fingers around his, squeezing tightly for a moment before he returned the gesture.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat and Marinette finish their chat

Marinette was sitting quietly beside him, but her expression was different now. She seemed more pensive, rather than conflicted and Adrien was glad he’d been able to help.

Actually, he was glad that she was feeling similarly to him. He had spent over a month trapped his room, unsure how to move on with his life now that he knew the real risks of the powers of the miraculous and knowing he had one less friend in the world; but the akuma the week before had begun to put things back in perspective for him.

He was a superhero, he spent nearly two years protecting Chloé from akuma’s she had caused and whilst she had never thanked him, only ever adoring Ladybug, he knew that deep down she appreciated him too. She would be pissed if he just gave up working with Ladybug because she was gone.

“Hey! You two get down from there!” A voice broke him from his trance. A security guard and some concerned tourists were pointing and calling out to them.

“It’s okay, officer!” Adrien called sticking his head into view and waving a clawed hand. “I’ve got her!”

“Oh, Chat Noir, it’s you!” the security guard called back. “Please, I must ask you and your companion to return to safer levels.”

“Well,” he sighed, turning to see Marinette was still staring out at the city. “Come on, Princess. Let’s get you home.” He tugged on her hand and carefully stood, pulling his staff from his back as he did so.

“W-wait, Chat Noir, I can get down myself-” her words were cut off with a shriek as he tugged her arms around his neck and plunged off the railing, extending his baton with practice as he began the fall. He used the baton to vault Marinette and himself into the air, retracting it as he landed against a nearby rooftop.

It was exhilarating, he thought, a small smile creeping up on his face as he took off running, Marinette’s legs now wrapping around his waist as she clutched her arms around his shoulders tightly. He had run through the streets and long the rooftops so many times before, and yet with a passenger, it sent a rush through him.

“Chat… please stop,” Marinette managed to get out and he slowed, sending his baton to the street below and declining with it as it retracted. He waited for Marinette to stabilise herself before stepping away.

She was visibly pale and panting. Had that been too much for her? He wondered, the smile slipping from his face.

“You’re _insane_!” she gaped as she tried to manage her breathing. “How do you _do_ that?”

“Do what?” he asked, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about his powers.

“You’re so… lurch-y,” she tried to explain. “like, you’ve always seemed so… smooth when you’re in battle but is that really what’s it like? You have a stronger stomach and sense of balance than I thought,” she shook her head.

“I, er, I’m sorry?” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Next time warn me or something, geez,” she shook her head with a small laugh and Adrien felt a little more relaxed.

She wasn’t mad at him, that was good. He had missed her company if he was honest. Sure, He’d also missed Nino and Alya but without Marinette he’d be a third wheel. At least with her he’d always been able to feel like he was a part of something more.

She was looking around now, trying to figure out where they were, pausing as she took in the large building beside them.

“Marinette? Everything okay?” he asked.

“U-uh, yeah, yeah,” Marinette shook her head a little before looking away from their school.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, sorry I just… I hope Adrien’s okay,” she said quietly, staring at her feet.

Adrien felt his cheeks warm at her words. Of course, she would be worried about him. He hadn’t spoken to anyone but Nathalie since the incident.

“I’m sure he’s doing alright,” he managed to get out, hoping he didn’t sound too sure of himself.

“He was close to Chloé… he hasn’t been to class since. I’m sure he’s taken this all really hard,” she swallowed before meeting his eyes. “I’m a terrible friend. I should have been trying harder to get in contact with him.”

“He wasn’t taking visitors,” Adrien explained. “I, er, tried to see him but even I was turned away.”

“You don’t think he blames you and Ladybug for what happened do you?” she asked and he fought the flinch that threatened to curl his body.

“I mean, could you blame him if he did?” he replied quietly after a moment. He had spent many, many hours brooding and trying to reject his powers, blaming himself for not being fast enough, or smart enough.

He had spent nights hating his powers and their alignment if only he had the power of creation, if only he had the same powers as his partner. That was when Plagg had finally stepped in and scolded him. His Kwami had harshly reminded him that not even the great Ladybug could have saved Chloé and that hating himself for what happened was misguided and not going to solve anything.

Idly he had wondered how Ladybug’s kwami was handling her chosen, but he was mildly surprised to find that Plagg’s words were what he had needed to hear and so he never questioned or doubted his miraculous since.

“I hope he doesn’t, but I guess I’d understand if he did,” Marinette echoed quietly beside him. Above them the sun was covered by a large cloud, the heavy vapours turning the day dark. Both of them hastily looked to the sky to see if it was anything supernatural, but when nothing else happened they turned back to each other.

“It was good to see you, Marinette,” Adrien said with a small smile. Marinette simply nodded, her mind once again seeming to be preoccupied.

“Y-yeah, you too Chat Noir,” she replied. “I’ll see you around.”

She gave him a small wave before turning the corner and heading to the bakery and Adrien felt his heart clench a little as she disappeared from view.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat's on a solo patrol

Adrien sat out on the roof of Notre Dame. Since the attack last week, he had slowly started heading back out on patrols – solo of course, but for now that was enough. He was starting to feel like his old self once again and he was even planning on going back to school on Monday, even if only for a half day.

He wasn’t sure how he’d cope without Chloé in class, but he had to try. He couldn’t let himself fall back into his old isolated lifestyle; especially since the one person who had kept him company was gone.

He shook the thought from his head and stood, stretching as he prepared to run one of their old patrol routes.

Sirens and the reflections of flashing lights caught his eye before he leapt off the building. He turned and watched them travel out of sight and without thinking, he bounded off after them.

As he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, his mind went through scenarios. It couldn’t be an akuma, there was no alarm activated – not that he knew much about what triggered them, but they had been nothing but reliable. Maybe it was actually a medical emergency or a fire and he had mistaken the sounds?

He skidded to a halt a main intersection and observed as the police surrounded the entrance to a bank.

A robbery?

Adrien had been a super hero for so long, he barely thought about regular crime in the city. He leapt a rooftop closer and crouched, focusing his hearing as Plagg had taught him.

“Come out with your hands up! This is the police! You’ve been caught in the act, now surrender!” Sabrina’s father, Roger, called through a megaphone.

“No,” he could faintly hear the man in the building growl. “How did they know!? All the alarms were off, I was sure! This was supposed to be a perfect plan, nice and simple, in and out. How did they find me?” the man continued to mutter.

Adrien watched as Sabrina’s dad began shouting orders and the other officers began shuffling in formation closer to the door. Inside, the man’s muttering became louder and more frantic.

“Fine! If that’s how they want to play it, I’ll take as many of them down with me as possible. I cannot let them stop me!”

Adrien swallowed hard and shifted his weight. He had witnessed one or two akuma possessions before and they almost always started with the soon-to-be victim feeling injustice. He leapt on to the roof of the building and slid in through the emergency exit, that both the criminal and the police had seemingly forgotten about.

He crouched in a corner as he saw the robber, dressed simply in black with a ski mask over his face, pull a gun from the back of his pants.

“I can’t let it end like this. I have to fight. I will not be caught by this,” the man was beginning to sound like sense was leaving him and a small voice in the back of Adrien's head wondered what was driving this man to this level of desperation and near-insanity.

With complete disregard for the small voice and without wondering if the suit would protect him from a bullet, Adrien leapt out, pulling his staff from behind him and extending it, knocking the gun from the man’s hands.

“What the-” the man cried as he turned, seeing the kick Adrien was sending his way. The man quickly dodged out of the way and threw a punch, connecting with the side of Adrien’s face.

The pain almost knocked some sense into him. What _was_ he doing? Sure he was a hero but he was no Spiderman. He fought Akumas – tainted miraculous energy – with his abilities – pure miraculous energy. He wasn’t cut out to be fighting common criminals… and yet…

He snapped back, sending a punch to the robber, who ducked out of the way before he crumpled a little in pain from Chat’s staff that he had brought around when his punch had missed. He didn’t know martial arts, he couldn’t throw punches or proper kicks – but he _could_ use his staff.

Drawing on his knowledge in fencing, he used his staff as his weapon until the man couldn’t take anymore and crumpled to the ground. A noise at the door caught Chat's attention. The police were coming and whilst he had just taken down one probably amateur bad guy, he could not take down half of the police force.

Adrien shot one final look at the man before turning and fleeing as he heard the doors slam open and orders being shouted. He should tell the Constable what happened. He should make sure they know it was him and not a rouge partner of the robber in the store.

He knew what he had to do.

Instead he turned and ran off into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finds out about Chat's night out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a short one to get back into the swing of things

Marinette blinked in surprise at the webpage Alya was showing her.

 **Chat Noir Spotted Near Shocking Scene!!** – read the headline. The image was a slightly blurred photo of a figure in black leaping from building to building away from the camera.

“What happened?” she managed to ask.

“Chat Noir was seen running from a bank robbery,” Alya explained as they continued walking towards the school.

“Really?”

“Yeah, but it’s not what you think. Chat Noir wasn’t the one who conducted the robbery, in fact the robber was caught by police right as Chat was seen leaving.”

“Well he was probably just keeping an eye on things,” Marinette reasoned, forcing herself to look past the fact that her partner had been patrolling two nights ago, _without_ her.

“Who was keeping an eye on what now?” a familiar voice said behind them and Marinette froze in surprise as Adrien stuck his head between hers and Alya’s, he arms dropping over their shoulders.

“A-Adrien?” she squeaked.

“Hey Mari, how are you doing?” he asked, tone rather light. “Sorry I’ve been gone so long,” he added, pulling away from their shoulders, both girls turning to face him.

“Adrien what happened to your eye?” Alya interrupted.

“Wh-what?” Marinette choked on what she was going to say.

“O-oh, you can see that, huh? Guess I’m not very good at putting on makeup.”

Marinette took a step to get a better view and saw a faint ring of purple around his right eye.

“Oh my god, Adrien how did… what happened to you?” Marinette gasped.

“It’s nothing, really. I just, got a little carried away with some fencing practice. I started to get a little stir-crazy and figured it was time for things to go back to normal… or at least, as normal as they can be,” he added, voice quiet.

“Adrien, dude!” Nino called as he met the group. At his words numerous students stopped to turn and stare, something that hadn’t happened since Adrien’s first day.

Marinette swallowed hard and began waving her arms to draw the attention. “Hey everybody, time to get to class. We don’t want to be late! Things have to go keep moving after all, come on. Class president says keep moving! Thank you!”

“W-wow,” she heard Adrien mutter behind her and she felt her cheeks flush and her hands drop to her sides.

“S-sorry. I just… It can’t be easy…”

“I appreciate it, Marinette,” he smiled and Marinette felt her cheeks warm.

“So what did you say I wouldn’t believe?” Nino asked Alya and Marinette turned her attention back to her friends.

“Chat Noir was seen leaving a robbery on the weekend,” Alya exclaimed, returning to her phone to show Nino the article.

“He was?” Adrien blanched and Marinette shot him a look of concern.

“I told her he was probably just keeping an eye on things, making sure there wasn’t an akuma or something,” she explained.

“Wait, just Chat Noir? No Ladybug?” Nino frowned. “That’s weird. Weren’t they just seen together a few weeks ago?”

“When they took out that akuma, yeah, but it’s been quiet again. Whatever is going on, we don’t have any answers and both the heroes and villain of Paris are being really flaky,” Alya sighed.

“I don’t think Papillon ever thought that Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn’t save anyone,” Marinette said quietly after a moment. “He wants their miraculous for whatever reason, but they’ve always managed to save Paris and defeat his akumas. I think they’re all probably questioning their powers,” she added, voice hoarse as she finished her thought.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to meet Adrien’s eyes, a sympathetic smile on his lips.

“They’re still the heroes of the people. No matter what happens, Ladybug and Chat Noir are here to keep Paris safe,” he explained, the words feeling familiar to her.


	8. Chapter 8

Adrien was nearly home when he saw a red and black figure zip across some rooftops towards the Eiffel Tower. What was Ladybug doing out? Why was she patrolling so early in the evening?

“Ladybug wants to talk to you,” Plagg whined as he was let out in Adrien’s room a short while later.

“She does? How do you know?”

“I’m too weak to tell you. Need. Camembert.” His kwami cried, dramatically floating the ground.

Adrien rolled his eyes and pulled a wedge from his bar fridge, tossing it in the direction of the god of destruction. The creature caught it in his mouth, swallowing it in a large gulp before letting out a satisfied sigh. Adrien looked at him expectantly.

“What?”

“Ladybug?”

“Oh, right. She’s trying to call you, so can you transform and answer her?”

“How do you _know_?” Adrien asked again.

“It’s like… a telepathic signal, I guess. I can feel the powers of her kwami trying to reach me. It’s pretty uncomfortable, so if you could transform, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Uncomfortable? What is it, like you’re on vibrate or something?”

“I mean, yeah, kinda!” the Kwami’s voice grew louder. “She’s trying again, ugh, please end my suffering!”

“Alright, alright. Plagg, transform me!”

As the flash of light faded, his baton immediately starting chiming.

“Hey Ladybug, what’s up?”

“Ch-Chat, you answered…”

“Well, my kwami wasn’t too happy being voicemail. Everything okay?”

“Can we talk? I’m at the tower.”

“I’m on my way,” Adrien replied before ending the call. He sighed, as much as he wanted to go back to normal, part of him felt strange around Ladybug now.

Shaking his head, he propped open his window and leapt out onto the neighbouring roof before running towards the tower. The breeze was soothing against his face as the evening began to grow cold.

He made the final leap to the tower and extended his baton until he got to the very top, where Ladybug was waiting for him. As he stepped onto the form, she turned and looked him up and down, but no words escaped.

“Ladybug?”

~

“Chat,” Marinette managed to get out. She had been planning on giving him an earful, asking him why he had been near the robbery and just how long had he been patrolling with her – but once she saw him, messy blonde hair and black leather mask, her words evaporated as she remembered their last encounter.

“I… I’m sorry for what happened the other week… not just with the akuma but with the things I said. Both of us were dealing with what happened and instead of being there to support you, I just disappeared. I thought I could escape from everything that had happened, from being Ladybug all together…” she took a shuddering breath. She wasn’t here to get emotional.

“I just… I just want to apologise for letting you down,” she forced herself to finish. Chat Noir stared quietly for a moment before letting out a breath.

“Well, that was… I mean… thank you,” Chat said quietly. “I should also apologise to you, I know it wasn’t actually your fault… I just didn’t know how to handle it and I also disappeared for a bit. I guess we both let each other down, didn’t we?”

“Is that why you started patrolling on your own?” Marinette forced herself to ask and the boy looked up at her, his eyes surprised but also a little guilty.

“Actually, I just needed to get out of the house.”

“You could have told me,” she fought the pout that wanted to pull at her lips.

“We both needed time on our own. No point getting upset over it now,” he replied rather nonchalantly and she let the pout take over her face.

“Chat…”

“Let’s just start again,” he shook his head.

“What?”

“Just like, this past month. Let’s just start fresh now, okay? You and me, still a team, protecting Paris.” He held out his fist, eyes half hopeful, half exhausted.

“If it’s what you want,” Marinette couldn’t help but reply, gently knocking her fist against his. “But no more patrols without me, okay?”

“Scouts honour,” Chat replied, crossing his fingers over his chest. They gave small smiles to each other before sitting on a ledge, overlooking the lit-up streets of their city.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened the other night?” she asked after a while.

“I, er, got curious,” he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

“Curiosity killed the cat, Chaton,” she shook her head lightly.

“But we don’t really think about crime in Paris, do we?”

“Of course, we do, we’re superheroes.”

“But we only fight magic with magic, or ‘energy with energy’,” he added, quoting the air with his fingers. “We don’t think about the real crimes, the smaller stuff, like bank robberies, or muggings or stuff.”

“Well, we’re no crime capital,” Marinette reasoned.

“Sure, but the police are there doing the hard stuff every day; helping the people in the little ways, the stuff that adds up. We’re only needed every now and then, but there is always a need for them,” Chat added, curling up a little.

“You sound like you might have found a new dream career,” Marinette couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh please, like I’d ever be able to with my schedule,” he shook his head before resting it on her shoulder. Marinette knew his home life was tough and family ties were strained, but the two tried to avoid talk like that in case Papillon ever tried to pit them against each other.

“Maybe one day,” she soothed, running her fingers through his hair. Things felt familiar, his head on her shoulder, her fingers through his hair… just like before.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat shows Ladybug why he was out on the weekend

“So tell me why you called?” Ladybug asked as she and Chat Noir leapt across roofs a few nights later.

There had been an akuma attack the day before, and the pair had purified the akuma as effortlessly as they used to, despite Ladybug’s new outfit and the butterflies still coming out a little plain.

“I want to show you what you missed out on the other night,” Adrien replied as he paused atop the Notre Dame.

“What do you mean?”

“With the police. I was hoping we could tail them tonight, see the hard work they do,” he could already feel his heart begin to beat a little faster in anticipation.

“Chat, I know you have an interest in this, but I really don’t think following them is going to help. We’re superheroes, we have to let the police do their jobs.”

“But our duty is to protect Paris,” he exclaimed, gesturing to the monument they were standing on.

“From akumas, not the people,” Ladybug shook her head.

“What’s the difference?” Adrien asked. “Akumas are people possessed by their emotions and granted superpowers,” his hears perked up as he heard some sirens in the distance. “Akumas or not, we promised to protect the people. We have to try and help,” he reasoned, holding a hand out to her.

“Chat…”

“Come on, just this once,” he promised. “We don’t have to do it again, I just want you to see.”

She let out a long breath. “Okay, fine. Let’s go.”

Ladybug threw her yoyo out and took off towards the sirens, Chat Noir right on her heels. As the pair reached the scene, Ladybug assessed it from the roof.

“Looks like there was a brawl or something,” she frowned.

“It’s a Saturday night, too much to drink, perhaps?”

“Chat, shh, can you hear that?” she held up a finger and he silenced, listening.

He could hear it, a few blocks away, a person breathing heavily and cursing under their breath. He gave his partner a nod and the two of them made their way to the small street away from the scene. Just as he was about to drop down into the street, Ladybug held him back.

“Chat, he has a knife,” she whispered and Adrien’s heart kicked up even more.

“We have to stop him.”

“We need to tell the police where he is,” she countered but he shook his head.

“We have super suits, the police don’t. What if he stabs one of them?”

“Then we warn them.”

“And in the time that takes, he could be akumatized by then. We don’t have time to argue about this,” Chat brushed off her warnings and leapt onto the street in front of the man.

“Who’s there? Huh? Chat Noir? What are you doing here?” the man slurred, hand with the knife swinging casually at his side as he spoke.

“Everything okay there, buddy?” Adrien asked, eyes focusing on the man but repeatedly zipping back the bloodied blade.

“He came at me first, yknow? Swung at me. Had no choice but to defend m’self.”

“Right, sure. How about he put the knife down and go tell the nice police officers what happened?” Adrien tried to reason, holding his hands up to signal he wanted peace.

“Oh yeah, like they’re going to see it my way,” the man scoffed. “The police don’t do nuffin’ round here. And you and Ladybug only show up when there’s a stupid akuma attack. No one here to help the little man, yknow? He’s gotta help himself.”

Three things happened at once, and Adrien was glad for his abilities. As he’d stepped back, the man had lunged for him, the knife coming to slash across his chest, Ladybug cried out in terror, and Adrien caught sight of a dark purple butterfly coming their way.

“Akuma!” he managed to shout as he ducked beneath the knife and rolled out of the way of the man. He heard Ladybug’s yoyo zip through the air and felt a moment of relief as he heard her purification.

The relief was short lived as the man managed to get his balance back and charge at Adrien again, but this time he was ready, using his baton to swing the man’s arm away, Adrien spun and jabbed his elbow into the felon’s stomach.

The man doubled over and Adrien shot his partner a large grin at another job well done, but she was gone.

~

“Chat!” Ladybug near shrieked as she came down behind him and knocked the knife out of the man’s hands. He had double over but not let go of his weapon and the moment Chat had turned his back, the felon had been ready to strike.

Now furious, the man was throwing a punch towards her and Marinette wrapped her yoyo string around the felon’s wrist and leapt over him, tying the string and bringing him down to the ground.

“You reckless cat! You nearly got yourself killed!” She was already berating him as she checked the man was staying down.

“L-Ladybug,” he stammered.

“No, you need to think about your actions, you could have gotten seriously hurt! Super suit or not, do you really want to risk it?” she shook her head as she finished but he shot her a smile. “What’s that for?”

“You can feel it, can’t you?”

“What?”

“The adrenaline. The fact that we just took down a bad guy without miraculous powers.”

“Of course, we used our powers, we’re superheroes.”

“But this is what real superheroes do!” he explained, eyes wide and sparkling. “We fight the bad guys, the real bad guys, just like Spiderman, or Batman, or Wonder Woman.”

“Batman’s a vigilante, we aren’t. Chat our role is to get the miraculous back from Papillon, not to stop every low life and put the police out a job,” she shook her head; but part of her knew he was right, just a little. Below her foot the man grunted and she was reminded of his presence.

“And right now, we need to let the police know where this man is,” she added.

“Alright, alright. We’ll take him over to them,” Chat held up his hands in surrender.

“Wait, what if they get mad,” she bit her lip. “What if they think we don’t think they’re doing their job properly?”

“We explain that we just here to help,” Chat grunted a little as he picked the felon off the ground.

Marinette hesitated, the last thing she wanted to do was step on anyone’s toes, especially the police force. They needed to stay on good terms with them, especially during akuma alerts.

“How about we just… leave him here,” she said slowly. “Tie him up and leave him for the police to find. I’m sure they’ll be searching the area any moment now.”

“Are you suggesting we let them think there is a vigilante on the loose?” Chat asked, turning back to her and she bit her lip a little harder.

“Well… what if we just,” she walked towards the felon and punched him in the side of his face. The brute immediately fell unconscious and Chat’s knees buckled under the weight.

“Ladybug,” he gasped as he stared at her in shock.

She released her yoyo from the man’s wrists and helped Chat prop the brute against a wall in a nearby alley, just in view of the street. She could still feel her partner’s eyes on her as she picked up the knife and put it next to the unconscious man.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said, not making eye contact with her partner. Once they were both on a nearby rooftop, Marinette threw her yoyo to hit the nearby garbage cans, causing a loud crash to echo in the quiet streets.

Moments later the police were in the street, searching for the cause of the sound. She turned and followed her partner towards the Notre Dame as she heard the shouts of law enforcement finding their suspect.

“Well that was certainly unlike you, m’lady,” Chat told her as they both caught their breath atop the church. There was a hint of amusement in his eyes that made Marinette feel a little… excited? She shook her head. No way, it was just adrenaline. They had just done something so unlike both of them.

Sure they were both heroes, but they were only supposed to fight akumas. Energy with energy, just like Chat had said… and yet, something was kind of exhilarating about what they had done. It was less about luck and more about skill.

It was something different.

It was something new.


End file.
